CalGuard’s Counterdrug Task Force back to full strength, seizes $3.3 million in illicit fentanyl

Since they started drug interdiction efforts in 2021, they have helped seize nearly 33,030 pounds of fentanyl and more than 50 million pills containing fentanyl, with a street value of more than $482 million. 

So far this year, servicemembers, along with partner agencies, have helped seize 3,128 pounds of fentanyl and nearly 1.7 million pills for an estimated value of nearly $26 million. 

There are nearly 450 servicemembers deployed statewide, including at ports of entry, to combat transnational criminal organizations and seize illegal narcotics. As soldiers get back to work, it’s important to remember that an estimated 32% of CalGuard’s servicemembers dedicated to the Counterdrug Task Force were reassigned by the President to unlawfully militarize Los Angeles. 

Fentanyl is primarily smuggled into the country by U.S. citizens through ports of entry. Within the last year, Governor Newsom announced continued augmentation in staffing and enforcement of CalGuard’s illicit fentanyl operations. 

Trump’s illegal deployment of soldiers to Los Angeles

There are 300 soldiers still unlawfully deployed to Los Angeles under federal command who will be there through Election Day. That’s a waste of our troops’ sacrifice and taxpayer funds. Governor Newsom provided the estimated costs of the illegal National Guard deployment in Los Angeles – nearly $120 million, so far.

The Title 10 deployment of more than 4,200 National Guard soldiers and 700 Marines cost $71 million for food and other basic necessities, $37 million in payroll, more than $4 million in logistics supplies, $3.5 million in travel, and $1.5 million in demobilization costs, which adds up to an estimated $118 million. 

In August, Governor Newsom’s office filed a federal Freedom of Information Act requesting all documents and records to identify the total expenses incurred to activate the U.S. Marines and federalize the National Guard since June 7. While the federal government has not yet provided records in response to this request, the California National Guard developed the calculations at the request of the Governor. 

Breaking down the cost

The entire deployment process was rushed, soldiers early on were forced to sleep on the floors and in the open air, use facilities with no functioning plumbing and were often fighting boredom. 

While less than 20% of the troops deployed to Los Angeles were actually utilized, soldiers were pulled away from their essential civilian duties as first responders, police officers, firefighters, doctors, nurses and teachers. Guardsmembers were taken off of specialized assignments – like in California where they were taken off Taskforce Rattlesnake firefighting teams and the Counterdrug Task Force work at ports of entry along the border. 

All of this combined with reports of low morale.

Taking the Trump Administration to court 

And earlier this week, the Governor asked a federal court to bring that deployment to an end by filing a request for a preliminary injunction to block the Trump Administration’s order to extend the National Guard’s deployment in Los Angeles through Election Day.  

On that same day, a federal court granted California’s injunction blocking Trump’s illegal use of the U.S. military as a domestic police force. The ruling makes clear: Trump is breaking the law by trying to create a national police force with himself as its chief. 

How we got here

On June 10, 2025, following President Trump’s doubling down on the militarization of the Los Angeles area through the takeover of more than 4,000 California National Guard soldiers and the unlawful deployment of the U.S. Marines, Governor Newsom and Attorney General Bonta filed an emergency request for the court to block President Trump and the Department of Defense from expanding the current mission of federalized Cal Guard personnel and Marines. This mission orders soldiers to engage in unlawful civilian law enforcement activities in communities across the region, beyond just guarding federal buildings.